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the downs and ups of a pleasure angler

Entries in this blog

Perch - unsuccessful follow-up 21.5.12

Two brief trips to follow up the surprising abundance of bites on jigged worm last week, even though the fish were only small.   On Friday I had a crack jigging plastic lures. Only one small perch.   Today it was back to jigged lobworm, but once again just one small perch.   I think I must put last week down to a one-off, but will remember to try a bit of jigging or twitching the bait when float fishing or ledgering when things are slow.

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

Perch - 2 firsts 14.5.12

6.30-9.30pm. Went to the pit again, and the first 2.5 hours were a blank. I was the only angler there, and you'd have thought there weren't any fish either. I tried spinning and float fished maggot and worm - not a bite. Then I tried jigged lobworm, and the response was immediate. Actually it was half a lob cos when I had a whole one on they just nipped off the tail.   I had five fish in the last half hour. All very small, but I was getting plucks and nibbles all the time. I'll have to find a

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

Gravel pit perch 30.4.12

I decided to try a local gravel pit where I know the perch run to over 4lb. I fished it at this time of year a couple of years ago and had one of 2lb 6oz, but when I tried it a month ago I blanked. Possibly the fish were spawning then, but after blanking I always need a bit of assurance from the fish that they are still around.   WT 12degC - no change in a month. 7.10 - 8.45pm   Float fished maggot for the first hour - just one small perch. Switched to lobworm and had one reasonable perch

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

Court Farm 10.4.12

5pm to 8pm at local commercial fishery WT 10.5degC. Aim - to catch some reasonable roach   When I came to this fishery 3 years ago (also at this time of year) it was easy fishing with plenty of bites, and I had roach up to 13oz. It started well this time, too. Within seconds of my first cast I had a nice roach of about 9oz, and I was expecting bite-a-chuck, but it turned out to be much slower.   My initial strategy was to fish caster, and loose-feed caster, but not to use ground-bait so as

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

Chub attack - failed 5.3.12

5.30-7pm   WT lower than I expected at 6degC. AT also 6degC at start, but getting colder, and the wind was biting.   Tried 3 swims in town centre where the sun, or rather West Berks Council, always shines, but never felt I was going to catch. Wasn't enjoying it, so cut my losses and went home earlier than planned.

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

Different weirpool 27.2.12

3.30-6.10pm   A nice grey day, and after such a warm week I thought it would be a great day for perch. But the news in the tackle shop was that the fishing was still hard, and my back was playing up which limited where I could get to. So I went to a free weirpool which I used to fish a few years ago.   First thing I did was to check the WT. At 8DegC it was a rise of 3degC in just a week. My spirits rose and I thought the perch would be going wild, but it soon became apparent that things we

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

Kennet weirpool 20.2.12

3.30-5.30pm   The plan was to fish with maggots and lobs for perch, chub and maybe trout. From which locals may be able to deduce the weirpool! But when I arrived, although the AT was 9degC, I was shocked to see the WT was still only 5degC, which I feared might not be to the liking of sergeant stripey.   So it turned out. I started with trotted maggot to try and find out where the fish were, but didn't get a touch. Switched to lobworm with maggot feeder, and chose to try a number of places

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

Lambourn 13.2.12

3.45-5.15pm A welcome relatively mild day, with AT 6degC. My original plan was to go for perch on the canal, but in the end I decided the water temperature might still be too low, and went trotting on the Lambourn.   There were a lot of people around, including some youngsters, being half-term. A couple of boys aged about 11 were fishing. One combined a 5ft float rod with waders to be an effective grayling catcher. The other, amazingly, was trying to fly fish with proper fly line but only a

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

Lambourn 30.1.12

Quite cold (AT 3degC dropping to 0degC). I decided to have a crack at ledgering for grayling. The main reason was so I could have gloves on to keep my little handy pandies warm, but I also wondered if I'd be able to get a bait into one or two places that my trotting skills aren't adequate to reach.   I'm aware that some anglers reckon you shouldn't ledger for grayling because of the risk of them swallowing the hook, but I tried it a few years ago on a different river and didn't have any probl

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

Benham Lock 23.1.12

I suffer from a weak back which limits how far I can walk, and have been looking for a good perch swim on the canal that doesn't involve too much of a walk. I decided to try out the far western end of a main NAA stretch which ends just below Benham lock. The main aim was reconnaisance, but I took my tackle along. Hmm, not ideal in my view. Although you can park near the canal, there were no near swims which looked to my non expert eye as being particularly perchy. Still, I walked as far as the n

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

Grayling 16.1.12

3.30-4.45pm Cold and bright, so a short grayling trip on the Lambourn. I took some sweetcorn along in the hope it would winkle out a pounder.   First cast in a swim I haven't found much use in the last couple of years, and a beautiful 1lb 3oz male grayling took my maggot as I was winding in. Perhaps he thought it was a nymph? Anyway, mission accomplished on first cast! Only the third pounder I've had.   Then pretty hopeless fishing by me, and too many tangles not helped by the cold. Just

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

No perch 9.1.12

3.15 - 4.45pm   A mild day and nice grey cloud so decided to try for perch. I have identified several swims which I'd like to try, but most of them involve a walk, and I decided to wait till my back improves. So I went to a fallen tree in the town centre which looked ideal as I reckoned I could cast to the slack water at the upstream end of the tree, and leave the float there a bit (though on reflection I've never caught a perch in the slack water at the upstream end - would be interested in

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

Are anglers mad? 2.1.12 2.45-3.30pm

Blue sky and cold. As others have observed, not the greatest. So I decided on a short session on the Lambourn after grayling - the less popular local bit as, being bank hol, I thought the other bit might be crowded.   It had clouded over by the time I got there, so hopes rose until I started to tackle up and a storm most foul erupted. Not a thunder storm, just a shower, but a fierce wind blew in my face and the combination of wet cold hands, wind, tangles etc defeated me. Are we anglers mad,

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

roach and perch 27.12.11 2-4pm

I went out yesterday walking the canal bank with a spinning rod in my hand looking for perch swims. Just one small perch to a spinner, but then it wasn't in the water that much. I found some likely swims, but it involved walking about a mile and a half which is too much for my back really.   Today I felt I needed to rest the back, so went to my most reliable roach swim on the canalised river armed with bread, plus a few maggots and worms left over from last week. With water temperature a resp

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

Float-ledgering in the rain 19.12.11

3-4.15pm   I once heard a rather feeble joke about someone who kept banging himself on the head cos it was so nice when he stopped. (There may also have been something about him being an editor.) But that's what it felt like today, fishing in very cold rain - though I realise it's nothing to what some of you barmy people do, fishing for hours in freezing cold!   The sky was cloudy so I decided to try for perch, but on reflection the WT of 4degC may have been too cold. But my real aim was t

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

Lambourn 12.12.11

3-4.30pm Went to the swim that was so productive last week with high hopes. I wondered if I had worked something out about how to snitch the bigguns. Not to be. 5 grayling from that swim, but nothing over three quarters of a pound.   Tried 2 other swims. The second was bite-a-chuck for tiny grayling. Had 5, but as many got off, not sure why. Anyway, ten grayling in all, and it's got to be encouraging having so many small grayling around - they are obviously spawning well. I guess the EA kne

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

River Lambourn - can the scales lie?

3 - 4.30pm. Because of back trouble I'm trying to fish where I can sit for a fair bit of the time; but with a cold day, clear sky, but not particularly high air pressure, I decided I decided there was not much option other than to try for some grayling. At least I could see how the back coped.   I haven't fished the Lambourn in earnest since the work done by EA, and the river is currently very low, so I wasn't too sure how my limited trotting skills would cope with the clear, fast, shallow

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

Near blank at Speen Moors

A friend mentioned he'd had some reasonable roach at SM in the summer, and I thought I'd see if they were still there. Other commitments usually mean I can't get to the bank till about 2.30pm at the moment, and today it was nearly 3pm before I had a line in the water.   Trotted magic bread as usual. Amazed how much water was coming through, given the recent lack of rain. Just 3 small ones and I didn't have the feeling there was going to be anything of note; and then there was quite a heavy sh

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

Maggot feeder 14.11.11

I had a good session on the flowing canal 5 years ago when it was bite-a-chuck small dace on maggot feeder, and through sheer luck I ended the session with a pb perch of 3lb 3oz.   The weather today was OK, AT up to 12degC and quite cloudy, but I didn't like the high pressure and east wind. Rightly or wrongly I thought the dace and perch wouldn't mind this as much as the roach, so I decided to try and emulate 5 years ago - partly in the hope that the dace would be bigger by now.   Alas I

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

Thames roaching 31.10.11

Went up to ol' Father Thames for a couple of hours in search of Rutilis. I spoke to a chap who had been fishing from his boat 'Had 4 roach this morning, nothing since then'. But it turned out one of them was between one and a half and two pounds. Phew! Though of course it wasn't weighed...   No flow at all except when the lock opened. Started off on groundbait feeder for some reason with magic bread. In the first hour had 4 fish, 3 of them chunky, best 9 oz. Then switched to float/maggot. Ins

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

Same again 24.10.11

Same place as last week, same bait, but swim pretty dead. Had one nice half-pound roach just before I packed up at dusk, but that was it.   Hmm, the temptation to switch to perch is getting greater! I'll be interested to see how the drop-shotters get on as it gets colder.

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

Roach again 17.10.11

Went to roach swim on canalised river for a couple of hours. While I was shotting the float a small gudgeon attacked the bare hook. Why did you do that I could hear his mum say to him!   Once again float and magic bread. Trouble with wind and a surprising number of barges. Even so first hour was good with 7 roach, mostly 6-8 oz, best 10 oz. Second hour, leading to dusk, was dead. Becoming too much of a pattern. Maybe it was the barges, though?

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

Canal roach 10.10.11

Nice cloudy sky, albeit with moderately high pressure at 1018 hPA, and I decided to try for some roach - though other matters meant I had less time than planned - just 90 mins leading up to dusk. With winds at over 20mph the priority was to find a sheltered swim, so I went to a bit of non-flowing canal, which I don't often fish, and had little idea what to expect.   Float-fished with 12 hook and nice chunk of bread flake. Bites very slow, and I had a feeling my bait was too big, so went down

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

Lure fishing 3.10.11

A bright sunny day with reasonably high pressure, so I decided to leave the roach campaign and have a crack at lure fishing at dusk, on the basis that it might be the last good day for it this autumn. I went to a swim where, on a similar day 2 years ago, I had two high-double perch and a 5lb chub in 5 casts! But alas, I was without my trusty Mepps Aglia Hot Tiger no 3, and the larger lures I used were not appreciated by whatever was in there. Zilch.   So I moved to a tree on the canal where I

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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